Dr Mia Woodruff
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation,
Queensland University of Technology
Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
In Australia, over $1 billion is invested annually in treatment of skeletal defects caused by tumour removal, sporting and road traffic accidents. Current treatment options for healing this damaged bone include taking bone-grafts from the same patient and permanent implants. Dr Woodruff’s group has developed 3D templates to assist bone-defect repair. They have made tissue-engineered scaffolds in the lab that mimic the bone itself and may be implanted to heal the defected-bone. The scaffold slowly dissolves as the new bone-tissue forms, eventually leading to a healed defect, and no scaffold. Her work moves towards combining these scaffolds with growth-factors and cells to enable superior bone regeneration and hopes to provide surgeons with off-the-shelf solutions to bone loss in the near future.
Mia is a regular, annual oral and poster judge at student conferences (ASMR, and QUT’s “IHBI Inspires” conferences). She presented and mentored a group of high school students at QUTs Real Research Day and hosted students for 8-week research placements. Mia was also a guest speaker at the Incredible Inner Space Exhibition which showcased amazing collections of microscopy images from around Australia (AMMRF, QUT).